Sister Anne Sophie Meaney formed the Society of the Body of Christ to care for unwanted babies, abandoned elders — and everyone else around Corpus Christi, Texas, considered "human inconveniences" by society at-large. By Joseph Pronechen.

*Every Day at the foot of the Cross*
Ten years ago, as Sharon Longoria’s father lay dying, she thought that, as Catholics, the family was ready to face the loss. Then Sister Anne Sophie Philippe Meaney of the Society of the Body of Christ came into the hospital room. The nun asked, "Have you prayed with your father?" Longoria answered honestly: "No." "Then Sister gave all us seven children assignments," recalls Longoria. "We each had times when we were to be at the bedside and pray. That made us focus on the whole objective of death — eternal life — and kept us prayerful at the hospital. The things we took for granted she brought to our attention, like holy water and the sacramentals." "Daddy died the most beautiful, holy death," Longoria joyfully remembers. "On each side of him was one of his sons and his five daughters. He died with Communion on his tongue and in the third decade of the Divine Mercy chaplet. I really attribute Sister’s help in getting us ready for my father’s death."

From preparing the dying for a peaceful death and helping them pray their way into eternal life, to helping reconcile some with the Church, to praying babies into the world in the delivery room, to protecting and helping families, Sister Anne Sophie and the Society of the Body of Christ champions the culture of life in greater Corpus Christi, Texas. She and the society become instant family for unwanted children in the womb, abandoned elderly and other "human inconveniences," treating them all as children of God. One of the main purposes of the Society of the Body of Christ is to emphasize the meaning and intimacy with God our Father in heaven, explains Sister Anne Sophie. "He loves us, each one of us," she adds, "as if we were his only child, his favorite." That’s why God often sends the society the "hard" cases no one else seems able to deal with.

Take Gertrude, a former slumlord who treated everyone horribly. She had no family and, because of her tyrannical ways, no friends. But before Gertrude died at 96 in a convalescent home, she was praying Psalm 23 from her heart — and Sister Anne Sophie had prepared her for her first confession and holy Communion. Gertrude might have died a mean old woman who had no forgiveness in her heart, reminds Sister Anne Sophie, but instead she died peacefully while her "new family," the Society of the Body of Christ, was reciting the Divine Mercy chaplet.

The story brings to light what Sister Anne Sophie means when she explains, "From conception to natural death, the urgency of the saving of souls is our mission." That means performing works of mercy, bringing Communion to the sick, the dying, shut-ins and those in convalescent homes, then "being a source of comfort and joy and love for them so that they can be at peace and give themselves to God." The result? She often catches those who would otherwise slip through the cracks. God’s grace kept Sister Anne Sophie herself from slipping through the cracks while growing up in five foster homes. Much later, she was adopted as an adult by the founder of the area’s Birthright center. She has been arrested for praying at an abortion business. When she became an extraordinary minister of holy Communion, bringing the Eucharistic Lord to the bedridden and elderly God placed in her path, her calling unfolded and she founded the Society of the Body of Christ. On March 25, 1994, Bishop Rene Gracida, now bishop emeritus of Corpus Christi, Texas, erected the society as a public association of the faithful with the intention that, one day, it would be a new religious institute. Three months later, on the feast of Corpus Christi, after vowing before Bishop Gracida to live a life of poverty, chastity and obedience — and to defend all human life from conception to natural death.

— Sister Anne Sophie received her habit as the society’s first consecrated member. Bishop Gracida, who remains the society’s spiritual adviser, praises Sister Anne Sophie and the society’s work of ministering to the sick and dying. "The work is almost identical, analogous to the work done by the congregation established by Mother Teresa of Calcutta," he says. "With loving, tender care and kindness," he adds, "Sister and the society offer the suffering spiritual solace either to recover from illness or to ease their passage into the next life." That example has drawn laypeople to join the Society of the Body of Christ as associate members. So far, some 97 individuals pray and care for the weakest among them. Meanwhile approximately 230 "suffering members" are powerful instruments of intercession: Through the society’s work, they offer their pain and even their own dying for the glory of God and salvation of souls. No wonder that, in 2002, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, wrote to Sister Anne Sophie. "Your work and the Society of the Body of Christ," he wrote, "are incredibly important." "The charism of the Society of the Body of Christ is the compassion of Mary at the foot of the cross through St. John," she was told by her great uncle, Father Marie-Dominique Philippe, founder of the Congregation of St. John.

The Gospel lesson of fraternal charity means baby Coretta, one of Sharon Longoria’s drug-addicted, severely abused foster babies, received bedside prayer and care 24 hours a day from society members during her seven-week hospital stay. "Sister told me, ‘Coretta’s going to know love,’" says Longoria, now a society member. It means Sister’s driving 60 miles daily to bring Communion to 10-year-old Colton, who’s dying of leukemia, and then being with his family through the funeral. To this day, she’s involved with the family.

It means helping people with Alzheimer’s recognize the Host and receive holy Communion. "We miss so many opportunities with Alzheimer’s patients," Sister Anne Sophie says. "If we take what the world says at face value, none of these works would be happening. Because we have faith and follow Jesus, he makes all this possible by his grace." Bishop Gracida looks to the day when the society will be recognized as a religious institute as consecrated members join.

1 comment:

Sister Anne Sophie Meaney, founder of the Society of the Body of Christ in Corpus Christi, Texas (SocietyoftheBodyof Christ.com), puts living the spiritual and corporal works of mercy high on her countercultural to-do list. Serve Jesus in the sick, elderly and dying, she says. Stand up for the truth, and don’t trust, or rely on, the world to take care of the human family’s most vulnerable members.

“Be sacrificial in giving your time to volunteer at rest homes, to visit and spiritually adopt an elderly person on a weekly basis,” she suggests.

Her “game plan” for being a positive sign of contradiction in the world also includes frequent confession, reverent reception of holy Communion and Eucharistic adoration. And, she points out, parents can teach their children by example how to do everything, big things and small, with God’s will in mind. “Pray as a family,” she says, “especially the daily Rosary.”

Mallett seconds that. “As we [families] carve out time for supper, we need to carve out time for personal and family prayer,” he says. “Pray with the family, even if just a decade of the Rosary after a meal. Read the Bible together, and take personal time with the Lord. The Holy Spirit will form our hearts and minds, making us sensitive to what is right and wrong.”

“It’s going to be pretty hard for us to be countercultural and bear fruit if we don’t remain in Jesus,” says Mallett, referring to Jesus’ words in John 15:4-5 — “Remain in me, as I remain in you. … Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear fruit because without me you can do nothing.

“If we remain in TV talk shows, sitcoms and secular magazines, and spend little or no time in prayer, how can we expect to bear the fruit of a countercultural witness?”

Ed Sousa, Sr.

VISITORS

Our Lady's Monthly Message From Medjugorje to Marija

Dear children! Also today I am calling all of you to prayer. You cannot live without prayer, because prayer is a chain which brings you closer to God. Therefore, little children, in humility of heart return to God and to His commandments so that with all of your heart you are able to say: as it is in Heaven so may it be on earth. You, little children, are free to, in freedom, decide for God or against Him. See where Satan wants to pull you into sin and slavery. Therefore, little children, return to my heart so that I can lead you to my Son Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Thank you for having responded to my call.

Our Lady's 2nd of the month, Monthly Message To Mirjana

Dear children, I have called you and am calling you anew to come to know my Son, to come to know the truth. I am with you and am praying for you to succeed. My children, you must pray much in order to have all the more love and patience; to know how to endure sacrifice and to be poor in spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, my Son is always with you. His Church is born in every heart that comes to know Him. Pray that you can come to know my Son; pray that your soul may be one with Him. That is the prayer and the love which draws others and makes you my apostles. I am looking at you with love, with a motherly love. I know you; I know your pain and sorrows, because I also suffered in silence. My faith gave me love and hope. I repeat, the Resurrection of my Son and my Assumption into Heaven is hope and love for you. Therefore, my children, pray to come to know the truth; to have firm faith which will lead your heart and which will transform your pain and sufferings into love and hope. Thank you.

Pray for Priests

ADOPT A PRIEST IN PRAYER

Could you find in your heart to adopt a priest and pray for him daily?

In a letter Benedict XVI expressed his satisfaction for the campaign for Eucharistic adoration and spiritual "maternity" for the sanctification of the world's priests. The campaign calls especially for "women consecrated" to spiritually adopt priests to help them, through their self-offering, prayer, and penance. It is hoped that through this initiative there will rise up to God from every corner of the earth an incessant prayer of adoration, thanksgiving, praise, supplication and reparation, so as to give rise to a sufficient number of holy vocations to the priesthood.

Prayer for Priests

Lord Jesus, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament, and living perpetually among us through Your Priests, grant that the words of Your Priests may be only Your words, that their gestures be only Your gestures, and that their lives be a true reflection of Your life. Grant that they may be men who speak to God on behalf of His people, and speak to His people of God. Grant that they be courageous in service, serving the Church as she asks to be served. Grant that they may be men who witness to eternity in our time, traveling on the paths of history in Your steps, and doing good for all. Grant that they may be faithful to their commitments, zealous in their vocation and mission, clear mirrors of their own identity, and living the joy of the gift they have received. We pray that Your Holy Mother, Mary, present throughout Your life, may be ever present in the life of Your Priests. Amen.

LIFE IN THE SPIRIT SEMINARSare also available in English and Spanish to anyone who wishes to attend. All are invited to come and join us for an evening of prayer, witnessing and healing, beginning with the celebration of the Holy Mass.

DVD of Divine Mercy Weekend with Fr. Randall, at Our Lady of LaSalette Shrine. To Obtain copy of this event call (508) 236-9068

FATHER JOHN RANDALL IS THE AUTHOR OF:

In God's Providence - The Birth of a Catholic Charismatic Parish

The Book of Revelation: What Does It Really Say?

Wisdom Instructs Her Children: The Power of the Spirit and the Word

Mary, Barrier or Bridge?

Pope John Paul Scriptural Rosary (20 decades)

Spiritual Warfare, The Twenty-First Decade

*Fr. Randall's last published book,- No Spirit, No Church,- is available at all Catholic Book Stores in Rhode Island or

order on Amazon.

*Father John J. Randall's New Rosary Prayer Book has been reprinted with a hard cover with his picture on the cover.

It also contains the Novana to the Holy Spirit and the Divine Mercy chaplet. It is being sold at Saint Charles Borromeo Church, 178 Dexter Street, Providence, R.I Tel-401-421-6441 at the cost price of $4:00 - Also available at Gabriel's Trumpet book store at 477 Washington Street, Coventry, R.I. Tel: 401-823-4884

You can also call Saint Charles Rectory at 401-421-6441

Fr. Joe Whalen, M.S.

Archangel St. Raphael Holy Healing Ministry - Click on photo...

Fr. Joseph Whalen is the founder of Archangel St. Raphael Holy Healing Ministry. He retired in 2014 at the age of 91. He has spent his entire priesthood witnessing to Christ's healing presence. Please keep him in your prayers.

August 8th 2016 Fr. Joe Whalen has gone to his eternal rest. His legacy and love for this Ministry that he founded will continue. We now have a powerful intercessor in heaven!